CVB launches revamped VisitingNorthfield.com site to mixed reviews

The Northfield Area Chamber of Commerce/Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) has a newly revamped website for VisitingNorthfield.com. At first glance, there’s a lot to like. A second glance, however, makes me grumpy. But I’ll save my critique (mixed reviews) for the comment thread. What’s your reaction? (Full disclosure: 1) I was asked to bid on the project and I declined; 2) several of my photos were used for the site with my permission.)

Glad to see the Northfield Entertainment Guide link since Calendar of Events is cursory. No LoGroNo link must be what is making Griff grumpy?
I did wonder why “Northfield’s new year begins with autumn” was the focus of the main page. We are so over autumn and winter, too, for that matter!
Hayes, what do you think of the history section? I wondered about saying “It would later be called a text-book James-Younger bank robbery” since the raid was not a success AND there were indications a couple of the robbers may have had so little regard for Northfield that they hoisted a few brews before the robbery (not a textbook sort of thing to do). Gustafson was mentioned here. Of course, one could also ask why Nicholas Gustafson did not clear the street when he heard the gunshots, even if he did not understand English…No need to get into that here!

Hayes, now that I know you wrote the history section, I do want to compliment it, of course! My only problem was with the term “textbook robbery” and I do not know what 3-2-3 format means! Otherwise, no complaints.

David, perhaps the title about mixed reviews referred to Griff. Griff’s own review was mixed—there was “a lot to like” and it also made him grumpy. He said there was more to come in the comment thread.
He had good points to make about web sites that were left out, with “more criticism to come.”
Now, what did you like, Griff?

that seems odd. I just shrunk my browser window down to the exact size of the content, I removed the brick on both sides. it’s only 10 inches across. Maybe the problem is your browser, I’m no techy, but the site is not too large in my opnion.

I have not spent too much time looking at the site, but so far I like what I see. A little tweaking might be useful. It should be updated and changed regularly. More photos would be great. maybe a slide show.

the chamber gets prominent placement, but not the NDDC? I agree with Arlen, people who are considering moving here could use this site. A moving to Northfield tab could be useful with links to real estate companies and our local construction companies as well as the school district website.

There should be an RSS feed for the CVB calendar so that A) potential visitors can subscribe to it; and B) other community websites and other regional tourism-related websites can aggregate the feed in their sites’ sidebars.

Likewise, the CVB could be aggregating the event/calendar RSS feed from N.org and the NEG on its sidebar.

This is very much a 1999/non-Web 2.0 approach to doing events: labor intensive, stand-alone, no data-sharing.

Griff’s advice about data sharing and linking is correct. this builds site traffic and increases your readership. In addition to RSS feeds, you could allow people to enter their email and get regular updates. some people, like myself, who don’t use RSS feeds prefer email updates. I’m reading a blogging book right now that describes how to do this effectively.

I don’t like it that site is completely devoid of any real people: no names, no identifiable faces of any living Northfielders, no person to contact.

It’s the neutron bomb approach to website construction: kill all living creatures because otherwise you have to keep updating the pages, deal with issues on who gets featured and who doesn’t, etc etc.

Which is one of the reasons why a blog is so helpful. You can still have all the gorgeous static pages (and they are well-done, IMHO) but you breathe live into the site with a blog that’s ever-changing and dynamic and full of PEOPLE photos and links and audio and video and slideshows.

Instead, staff time is going to be devoted to manually updating a lousy calendar and editing the info and links to area businesses and organizations. The latter is necessary but that won’t give the site the PEOPLE juice it needs.

The council authorized city staff to send out an RFP for the Convention and Visitors Bureau. Solicitations will go out immediately to businesses, individuals or organizations interested in providing the service. The council wants to see those proposals by February 10th. The Northfield Chamber of Commerce had been in charge of the Bureau since 1987. Council will most likely offer the term for CVB at 2 to 5 years with an option of first refusal.